Cushing Has [Minor] Knee Injury - Sprain, Should Be Okay for Week 1
 

Heard a blurb on 610 that Cushing has a "major" knee injury. No details were given, just that he was going to have an MRI. Early reports are that he is going to be gone "a while"....

Anyone heard anything?

Update
Official Site Now Reporting:
Rookie linebacker Brian Cushing has a knee injury and will not play this Saturday in the Texans' preseason opener at Kansas City. Texans coach Gary Kubiak did not specify how long Cushing would miss, only saying that he is "going to miss some time." Cushing had an MRI on the knee last night and was at practice in a brace with an ice pack on his knee.

The Texans are expected to issue a statement on Cushing's official injury status later today. Linebacker Zac Diles moved over to the strongside with the first team in Cushing's place.
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/St...?STORY_ID=5452

It's now reported as a sprained left knee. No other details. Doesn't SOUND like a major injury, but this team has a history of putting out less than full disclosure on injuries.

Isn't Domanick Davis still battling a pesky sprained knee?

i am not sure where "major" came from. i have heard they don't know the severity yet. they have said that they aren't sure when he hurt it, and he didn't go down on the firld. that sounds like a good thing to me, but i honselty don't have a clue what i am talking about either.

Don't say that man.:(

I think DD had a degenerative knee condition. If Cush just has a sprain, then that should not pose a long term problem. Good thing that I heard, was it did not happen on a specific play, had a full practice then complained of a sore knee after lifting.

It was that Matt Jackson idiot. Who know's if it was "major" or not. Kubiak's quotes are saying they won't know for a couple of days how severe. Just he will miss some time....whatever that means.

God that sucks....I was really starting to buy into what having a bigger stronger SAM up on the line could do to help our run defense, and I was pleased with his coverage abilities on TE's at practice....mainly his ability to get a good jam in at the line. I hope it's not serious.

That right there is the best quote I have seen on the board recently.

You can't determine anything based on "sprain." It's all about the severity, if it's a Grade III sprain, it's torn ligaments and he's done for the season.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...t/6569754.html

Update from McClain. Out 2-3 weeks, should play against MN. No surgery.

If this is the case, then I am breathing easier. Cush needs the reps, but maybe the time off will not cause him to hit the "rookie wall" as hard or as early. He did not miss any time on OTA's and minicamp so that is another positive.

Man it seems as if we just cannot get a break with this team. But I guess if he does make it back by the Minnesota game that is a break within itself. I just would have loved to see him out there Saturday.

Side note: how can Zack and Cato be having a (friendly) twitter position battles if Cato cant even get on the field with an injury like this. There's obviously no battle at all.

Demeco
Zack
Kevin
Isn't this the lineup we started last year with?

No Greenwood was the WLB starter going into the year with Demeco in the middle and Diles at SLB. Bentley got some starts at the end of the year after Diles went down.

I think I heard Cato June also had a minor knee injury at practice this morning or yesterday afternoon, . So that's one reason he isn't in there now.

Hopefully Cushing has a minor sprain and nothing torn.

We had 9 LB on the roster , so more reps for guys the next week or two.
2 Adibi, Xavier LB 6-2 243 Virginia Tech 2nd
57 Bentley, Kevin LB 6-0 245 Northwestern 8th
56 Cushing, Brian * LB 6-3 262 Southern California 1st
58 Davis, Buster LB 5-9 251 Florida State 2nd
54 Diles, Zac LB 6-2 237 Kansas State 3rd
50 June, Cato LB 6-0 229 Michigan 7th
59 Ryans, DeMeco LB 6-1 248 Alabama 4th
51 Thompson, Chaun LB 6-2 243 West Texas A&M 7th
61 Verdell, Toddrick *LB 6-3 225 Florida State 1st

Oh yes, I forgot about that other waste of talent. I think we ended up doing better without him.

Well, this isn't good news. But if we make lemonade...somebody on the depth chart just got a little more time to prove himself in camp.

I'm surprised that they're putting Bentley on as the starting WLB with Cushing out instead of Adibi... Makes you wonder if the coaching staff is having some questions about Adibi's readiness to start. If the competition for regular season WLB starter has been between Diles and Adibi, this has to clearly indicate Diles is the favorite at the moment.

The article said Bentley will be backing up on the left side ( weak side).

So I read the LBs depth chart as:

WILL - Adibi, Bentley
MIKE - Ryans, Davis
SAM - Diles, Thompson/Bentley

Verdell and Davis have the most to gain from this setback.

Time for Cushing to double up on the hyperbaric chamber....

Actually, its being reported that Bentley wont be backing up on WLB, but will infact be STARTING.... this is a quote from an Associated Press article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns

There's no mention of Adibi. It looks like either Bentley is impressing quite a bit or the coaches have some questions regarding Adibi and June...

So Its looking more like this for the depth chart at the moment:

WILL - Bentley, Adibi, June
MIKE - Ryans, Davis
SAM - Diles, Thompson

I think the original post was making a mountain out of a molehill. And I think PK got it right:

WILL - Adibi
MIKE - Ryans
SAM - Bentley

I am going to quote the Texans Official site

When you listen Kubiak discussing Cushing injury video dated today, you can see how the press misunderstood the moves.

Kubiak told them about the change in position, not the change in depth.

The good side is all 9 LBs are getting to show their flexibility, get reps and build our depth, and all should be healthy for regular season.

Bad side I was hoping to see Cushing in action this week. we'll see, could be he only misses one game, all just speculating for now.

Sounds like Diles and June only practice outside on the grass, not in the bubble, so depth chart is different in afternoon from the morning.

http://www.inthebullseye.com/archive/2009/20090813.html

I hope the early bulking isn't causing the problem here. It's only a sprain, and to jump ahead here is probably silly, but I'm still scared nonetheless.

Depth charts are sometimes misleading. When a man goes out, suddenly a player switches position and the number two man is still number two.

The AP article is wrong

I was really surprised at how short Davis looked. He looks pretty solid though and seems to play with a fire. Verdell seemed to have pretty good size but he looked really stiff to me.

Bottom line: It's nice to finally have LB depth.

Will someone please change the thread title.

Yeah, I'm on vacation with no Houston news and nearly had a frickin heart attack when I read the thread title. :eek: I still check the thread when I can to make sure it's not true.

Tried, but it won't let me. Keith, help?

It should read:
"In effort to drive ratings, and grab attention, Sports Radio 610's idiot broadcaster Matt Jackson reports that Brian Cushing Has a Major Knee Injury"

My bad guys. Didn't mean to spook anyone, just posted what I heard.

No worries. I usually do some minor thread title clean-up from time to time and just missed this one.

...so please don't send me any hospital bills. :p

Cushing, who suffered a sprained knee three weeks ago, might not play in Friday's preseason game at Tampa, meaning the first time he steps onto the field in an NFL game could be the Sept. 13 season opener against the Jets.
**
“We'll have to see what happens,” Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. “To think that a guy like that could start on opening day and play 70 plays is pretty farfetched, but I think this kid is capable of going in there and helping us be successful that day so we've just got to go about it the right way.”
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...t/6598250.html
*******************************************
I'm with the Chrons Solomom on this one, lets just ease him into the lineup and not worry about cramming-in some kind of "dry-run" in the exhibition season if he's not ready. My real concern is that he is reinjured on his initial return to action and just doesn't regain form and sputters all year without making a substantial contribution to the D.
If we have to wait to even mid-year then do it though I know Kubiak is already feeling lots of pressure.

I think they plan to let him practice today and tomorrow, and then decide when he's ready, but for sure err on the side of caution, long term.

They are going to practice him in full pads to get in some work and take it from there. From Kubes presser yesterday, sounds like they are being cautious with him and that he is healthy enough to play.

I think Zac is going to move to the will. X has not impressed and Kubes sounded a bit down about his play. Cush probably not ready to take the full load of snaps for an entire game, so I imagine we will see a rotation with Zac splitting time at the will and sam.

Yep and if I'm reading between the lines correctly, Adibi is deeply in the doghouse. Sounded like it was mostly his error on the Mike Bell run and after being schooled on it in practice, he did basically the same thing on the Adrian Peterson run. Might take him a while to work his way out of the doghouse....

But back to Cushing, sounds like he's ready (even if the coaches aren't) and I hope they at least give him a taste against Tampa Bay...

The Houston Texans have informed Zac Diles that he has won the starting job at weakside linebacker, according to a league source.
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/...inebacker.html

Hard to give out good grades or game balls for anyone after that performance, but IMO Cush played fine considering this was his fist live action in awhile. He seemed active and made some plays at the LOS. Glad to see they pulled him in the 4th when things were out of hand and give Bentley some reps.

Agree, Cushing seemed one of few who held up their position. He matched Demeco in team high sacks.